BROCKTON – Shelly Petti-Nadeau knew something was wrong when one of her regular customers came into her store Tuesday afternoon smoking a cigarette and then began urinating in a beverage cooler.

She called 911 when he began eating candy bars with the wrappers still on them and didn’t respond to her repeated requests to leave the store.

“We know this man, but today his demeanor was extremely unusual,” said Petti-Nadeau, who is the manager of C.M. Petti Market and Deli on Belmont Street. “He was asked to take his cigarette outside. He just would not follow direction. He walked over to one of the beverage cases and opened the door and urinated.”

Petti-Nadeau said the man, whose name she does not know, comes into the store almost every day for food.

“He’s just a normal regular guy. He always comes in for pizza and asks what the specials are,” she said.

The man did not respond or react to several requests for him to leave the store. Petti-Nadeau said she was frightened he would become violent if approached.

“We realized he was potentially extremely volatile. You could see it in his eyes. So, he started eating things with the wrappers on, unwrapping things, he was just strolling around the aisles,” she said.

Initially only one officer responded to the call, she said. As the officer was escorting the man out he became violent and began spitting at other customers.

“He got extremely violent, out of control,” she said.

The lone officer soon called for backup and nine other cruisers came to his aide. Petti-Nadeau said the man was large, heavy and about six-feet-tall.

He was tasered several times and was sprayed with mace. It took several officers to wrestle the man to the ground and get him into custody.

The unidentified man was taken to the hospital for evaluation. Brockton Police said the incident is under investigation and it had not been determined if he would be facing charges Tuesday afternoon.